1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for culturing mushroom mycelia, a culture product and uses of the culture product. More particularly, the present invention relates to the induction of mushroom mycelia cultured in solid media made of grains to undergo autolysis, the autolysates of mushroom mycelia, and their uses in foods and medicines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For their medicinal or healthful effects, many mushroom mycelia have attracted keen attention. Thus far, for use as materials of foods and medicines, specific ingredients have been prepared through separation, extraction and filtration from mushroom fruit bodies or mycelia cultured in broths. However, such a series of preparation procedures requires significant time and cost.
Recently, there has been developed a culturing method using grains as culture media for mushroom mycelia. After the culturing of mushroom mycelia, the grain media can be dried for use in foods. When this method is employed, however, the useful components contained in mushrooms cannot be suitably utilized.
The intensive and thorough research into mushroom mycelium culture, conducted by the present inventors aiming to efficient production and utility of useful mushroom components, resulted in the finding that the induction of mushroom mycelia to undergo autolysis makes it easy to obtain medicinally useful materials, leading to the present invention.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for culturing mushroom mycelia by which medicinally useful materials can be obtained effectively and with ease.
It is another object of the present invention to provide autolysates of mushroom mycelia, useful as materials for functional foods.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the use of autolysates of mushroom mycelia as materials for functional foods.
Based on the present invention, the above objects could be accomplished by inoculating edible or medicinal mushroom mycelia in solid media made of grains, rooting the mycelia into the solid media, and inducing the mycelia to undergo autolysis to give autolysates which are useful for the preparation of functional foods or medicines.